She's not fat!
by SilentPatronus
Summary: After two months away Jac and Jonny return with a secret that they can't hide. It's a matter of how long she can hide it but sometimes it's out of her own control One-shot


**Okay so this is my first update in about a week and it's the longest one-shot I've ever written. It took me a good 4 days because I've had no inspiration at all.**

* * *

A car came in through the entrance for the first time in two months. The two people inside gazed round at the building. The stress on Jonny's face was evident as he looked around searchingly for a space to park the car. Jac grunted complaining about their lateness and forcibly pinning the blame on him. He took it with a pinch of salt knowing that it was true and therefore any form of denial was pointless. When they eventually found a parking space several minutes later to say they were relieved was a huge understatement. They were relieved however, for different reasons. He was relieved because he didn't have to endure anymore grievances from his girlfriend of whom he had just rekindled his relationship with. She was relieved because she'd just make it in on time – she hated being late and she was already anxious as it was.

"Are you ready?" He turned his head towards her worried slightly that she may change her mind and runaway, that she may decide that she can't face it. But he should never doubt her, she loves her work too much to let _this _get in the way.

Jac stared at him not amused in the slightest. He was aware that she hated gossip and now she was going to have to walk into her work place for the first time in two months with nowhere to hide. "Just go." She replied more bluntly than intended but he knew her too well to take it to heart. With her you should never take anything to heart that was the golden rule and if you did then you'd soon learn not to otherwise your heart really wouldn't be able to take it.

Jonny was not convinced that she meant it. He didn't shift in his seat and instead remained staring at her causing her to feel slightly uncomfortable. She avoided eye contact with him by turning her head she didn't want his pity. She wasn't sure why he was looking at her and she didn't want to dwell on the situation. By bringing it up he would bring it out of her subconscious and she just wanted to hide it all away until she was put into the disastrous position because maybe that would delay the whole process marginally.

Thirty –or-so seconds later and unable to wait any longer in his wretched car Jac started fidgeting. Recognising this, Jonny rapidly left the car and made his way over to the other side to open the door for Jac who was less than pleased. He offered out his hand of which she ignored claiming that she didn't need help. The last thing she wanted was the attention drawn to her before people were made aware of the situation. Over the past few weeks she was constantly reminding him that being pregnant does not hinder her ability to move around independently. Her thoughts turned back to the week before she left for her jaunt.

* * *

_"You seem pretty pleased." He smirked as she walked by him humming to herself which was unusual. _

_"Wouldn't you if you were off to California for two months?"_

_"That's not happening." He replied startling her as he did so. His firm voice confused her. She didn't expect him to be happy and yes thinking about it she expected him to put up a fight but she had expected him to question her decision not try and tell her what to do. He had shocked himself as well as her in his sudden reaction but knew what he was saying and meant it._

_"You can't stop me." She glared at him speaking through gritted teeth and found it difficult to control her emotions whilst not wanting to make a scene in the middle of the nurses' station where anyone could pick up on their conversation._

_"Two months means that I miss everything. You're going to be fat when you get back." He didn't mean to be so harsh with his words but he was trying to make a point. He was as new to it all as she was and he didn't want to miss a thing. It was already hard enough not living with Jac or being in a relationship with her and now she was apparently off to the other side of the world for a couple of months._

_"I will not be fat." She appeared adamant about this._

_"I'm not missing anything." He repeated. Almost as if it was for his benefit as much as for hers. He wanted it drilled into her mind, reinforced until she's sick of the words. He wanted her to know he was not going anywhere and he didn't want to give her any reason to deny him any access. "I'm coming with you," he concluded. He wasn't entirely sure how that was going to work but he felt it necessary and he was going to make it happen._

_"You're what?" She was sure she heard him say that he was going to go with her but she didn't trust her ears. What did he think he was going to do? Tell Hanssen he wanted the time off work to follow his ex-girlfriend halfway round the world? There was no way she would let him tell Hanssen the truth._

* * *

She shook her head bringing herself back to reality. Hanssen had refused profusely that he was not to go. Jac had been gone for two weeks before he had found a reasonable excuse to go out there himself – he had spent hours each day searching for relevant courses and pleading with Hanssen.

She remembered him telling her that Hanssen suspected nothing although he was the world's most terrible liar and she knew that Hanssen knew something. She'd been impressed with the way he'd wriggled his way out and not given up although it had taken her several more weeks to be convinced by him that he was there for her just as much as he was there for the baby.

Looking up she felt a hand tighten around her arm pulling her up out of her seat. Realising what was going on she flinched slightly and pulled her arm away. She swung her legs round so they were now firmly on the ground and attempted to get out herself. It wasn't that she was that far gone as she was only four months but it was more that she was completely off balance and wasn't yet used to the weight she had to carry around causing her to fall back in her seat conceding herself to he who had once again held his hand on her arm pulling her up into his chest.

"I don't need your help." She used both hands to push him away causing him to stumble after feeling her full force. Managing to gain his composure he shut the car door when eventually she moved out of the way. He wasn't angry with her and he would never say it out loud but he wasn't surprised. It was typical of her and the hormones were making it even worse. He expected nothing less than a tough day especially as he was treading on egg shells with her today.

They had never discussed how it was going to work once they were back in Holby. Although they were together he wasn't sure if he was going to have to go back to square one with the five-minute wait whilst she heads into work. It soon became apparent that she would need him whether she'd care to admit it or not and he wasn't going to miss any second of it. He was impressed with the sizable bump that was forming. It was big enough now to notice and she had spent a long time this morning trying her best to cover it up and failing. If it wasn't for gossip it wouldn't have bothered her so much but the last thing she wanted was people sniggering behind her and rumours being spread about. The whole hospital knew of her past and she didn't want that dug up again. They would assume it was lies, that she was forcing Jonny and manipulating him to be with her. Luckily she had found a coat big enough to make her look more rounded and not pregnant and that she preferred – marginally.

"So are you just going to waltz in there pretending that everything is normal?" he questioned her as they walked towards the building. He lowered his voice to ensure that if anyone was around they wouldn't hear as he knew that he'd have her down his throat if he spoke too loudly.

"Everything _is_ normal."

"They're going to notice. I bet you the hospital will know by the end of the day." He tried to reason with her.

"Thank-you." She responded sarcastically.

"Don't you want to do things on your terms?"

"These are my terms." He knew he was never going to win and she was adamant that she wasn't go round announcing things. As much as she hated gossip she'd understood that it was going to happen whether she liked it or not and thought she was prepared for it. Well – not prepared more that it couldn't be worse than the past.

Together they walked into the building and she wrapped her coat around her protectively disguising the bump that would otherwise be obvious. Their small journey within the building to Darwin proved uneventful as they were lucky enough to avoid anyone that was vaguely familiar. Indeed he was surprised that they weren't forced to stop and engage in a conversation with someone that they were acquainted with. This obviously meant however, that everyone was on their respective wards he thought to himself. He was wrong in this thought and an earlier RTC had forced everyone into one place: Darwin.

Neither noticed this as they changed into their scrubs that there was anything unexpected going on – no one had come to warn them. She turned away knowing full well that he'd watch her as she got changed. This didn't bother her as such but anyone walking in and noticing her bodily change did. Despite the fact that Mo knew she still felt extremely self conscious when the registrar entered the locker room and protectively enveloped her hand around her bump which was just about noticeable over the extremely large scrubs.

"So you're back then?"

"No this is in your imagination." She responded sarcastically to Mo and turned back round to face her boyfriend who she noticed was also fully dressed now, and the registrar. From their reaction she could tell he'd spoken to her not that she was surprised at all. Had she not known better she'd assume they were joined at the hip. Frowning towards the registrar who unknowingly was glancing towards the slight bump that existed she muttered something under her breath. She hoped that Mo had only noticed because she was aware of the situation but in reality she knew it was nigh on impossible to hide now. Mo nodded towards her colleagues before disappearing back out onto the ward hovering around near the nurses' station ready to catch the entrance of her two colleagues on their return. She was only aware that the pair had resolved their issues due to updates from her best friend but she assumed from the lack of gossip that no one else was aware of this. She was in no doubt that no one knew about the pregnancy either and her best friend had warned her several times that it was going to stay this way. Although she could now see that that would be no longer possible.

A couple of minutes later the couple emerged from the locker room and were surprisingly engaged in conversation. It was probably his attempt to draw her away from the situation but she was surprised to see her hormonal friend – if she could call her that – equally as willing to engage in conversation.

The nurses' station was quiet as the majority of nurses were in the side bay concentrating on the RTC. Elliot had escaped back to the comfort of his office to search among a pile of books over something that he'd descovered about one of his patients. Ollie had moved on during the time that the pair had been away and Harry had been brought in to replace him much to his excitement. Harry had taken up Jonny's role of speaking to patients much to Mo's displeasure as efficiency with him was probably lacking somewhat.

"We have a job to do and there is no one here. Just great." She heard the voice of her boss shout out exceedingly loudly causing her to jump a little. "Where the hell are my staff?" Jac shouted a little more seriously as frustration oozed from her every pore. Jonny waking along side her winced as she spoke almost having to cover his ears at the volume of her voice.

The sudden outburst of the pregnant consultant caused both Harry to emerge from Bay one and Sacha to emerge with several nurses from the side room. "What the hell are they doing here?" Jac glanced towards Mo. Jonny stood there slightly amused.

"Wow, er, Jac. You look different." Sacha said almost positively. He wasn't sure what it was but Jac had changed a lot. Thinking about it she'd definitely put on some weight which was something she'd never managed to do in the whole time he'd known her. He didn't want to speculate but she couldn't possible be… no she wasn't. No definitely not. This was Jac. Of course not. She'd just put on a little weight he concluded.

"Yes well when you're away for two months with an idiot and with a bunch of people who eat like there's no tomorrow what do you expect?" Jac appeared in a grumpy mood with everyone. Sacha was meant to be her friend yet you wouldn't notice it.

"I am not an idiot." Jonny defended himself feeling slightly embarrassed that she'd referred to him as that in front of an audience although slightly surprised that she'd given their relationship away so easily.

"You," she nodded towards Harry, "get back to whichever ward you belong in." Everyone, including Jonny looked at her confused and feeling all eyes on her she spoke up again. "What?" she questioned sharply.

"Harry's the new CT2." Mo explained to her.

"Right, is there anything else I should know because if I find out that you're keeping things from me there will be consequences." Jac glared at the registrars standing in front of her.

"It gets easier." Mo whispered loudly. She had attempted to make it as quiet as possible but in a silent ward that didn't quite work for her and unfortunately everyone heard.

"Excuse me?" Jac questioned her apathetically.

The male registrars looked curiously between the pair and both already having their suspicions were beginning to piece the puzzle together. Had they asked Jac however she wouldn't have denied it mainly because she couldn't lie to Sacha and because it was so obvious that lying would be stupid. But they were men and she knew that they didn't understand the female mind – especially hers and the chances of them actually grasping the situation in the next minute were slim.

Luckily for her, and before anyone thought anymore of the situation both Sacha and Harry were called by their respective patients and Jac was free from revealing the truth – for now. It seemed for her that there had been a lot of changes to Darwin in her two months of absence and she'd only been kept in the loop about a few of them which disappointed her.

She wandered towards her office trying to remember the condition she'd left it in but failed miserably after being distracted by someone following her down the corridor. She didn't need to tilt her head to know who it was. This was not how it was going to be, he was not going to follow her every move she needed some space.

"Don't you think we need to talk?" he asked her quietly ensuring that only she could hear him. He'd been trying to have this conversation for days but every time he brought it up she would shake it off and now it got round to it he needed to know where it was going, where they were going.

"We are." She replied as she shoved open the door not even looking back towards him when speaking to him. He wasn't given a chance to respond however as entering her office they both realised they had company. Not only was Elliot sat on the floor surrounded by a pile of books but he was joined by the new Director of Surgery – Serena Campbell. They both glanced round as they heard the door open and it was clear they had been immersed in conversation and at first glance both looked rather flustered. Both Jac and Jonny glanced round the office which looked almost like a giant dustbin. Elliot had made a real effort to turn the place inside out.

Serena studied Jac slightly before speaking, "I thought I heard you," she began. "It get's easier," she tried to be reassuring but earned a puzzled look in response from both Jac and Jonny. "Oh don't give me that I've been through it myself!" Jac not quite putting two and two together or more not wanting to think that Serena new shrugged it off but Jonny smirked realising that Serena had just discovered Jac's not-so-secret secret. Elliot had barely noticed the conversation as he'd immediately got back to his research which was causing him much distress. "I was just about to look for you," Serena continued. "The pair of you actually, they need a CT specialist on Keller, it's only for a second opinion won't take long."

"I can do that by myself." Jac argued not understanding why Jonny had to go down with her. She was pregnant not disabled. Serena should know that, she too had been pregnant and she too had been independent. But ironically that was the problem that Serena had. As much as she was independent she had to go it all alone, she had no support when she needed it and she'd never have admitted it but she had needed it at times.

"I'll be the judge of that and you'll understand what I mean when you get there." Serena shooed them away despite it not even being her office. Jac and Jonny made their way over to Keller in silence both seemingly confused although other things plagued their mind. Jac was too absorbed in her day to day job to be worrying about what Serena meant whilst Jonny was concerned with the looks that they were getting from several nurses. He was sure that rumours were being spread already and he was worried the reaction they will receive from Jac.

After entering Keller Jac stormed up to Michael followed closely behind by Jonny. "Where's the patient who needs this bloody second opinion?" Jac glanced round the ward trying to spot the reason she'd been dragged to Keller. Michael smirked making some slimy comment about her attitude before explaining the patient's situation and directing her to the patient although Jac was barely listening and seemed to find it difficult to concentrate. Her mind was elsewhere. Upon reaching the patient in question Jac stopped suddenly placing one hand on her stomach and appeared taken aback somewhat. She tried to disguise her actions but both Michael and Jonny had noticed.

"Jac," Jonny whispered the concern evident in his voice. His hand was softly placed on her shoulder as he wondered what the problem was. Was she having pains again? He was sure that the endometriosis symptoms were meant to calm with pregnancy but he wasn't an expert in that field. He hated seeing her this way – unable to control herself.

Michael wasn't concerned about the situation and was surprised to see Jac in a moment of weakness. "Body can't cope with the American sized food portions?" he joked commenting slightly on Jac's figure change but not yet putting two and two together. Jac was slightly bothered about it but was more surprised that Jonny was looking so protective.

"Jac's not fat." Jonny argued slightly hurt that people would assume that Jac would let go of herself like that – it totally goes against Jac's principles on food which seemed to have gone out of the window which was something she couldn't control.

"I was only saying, Naylor has a bit of meat on her now. She's even wearing slightly bigger scrubs," he pointed out. Coming from America himself he knew that they liked to provide large portions of food and had assumed that by being out there for a couple of months it had started to take its toll on her body – it was logical really.

Noticing Jonny about to speak and worried that he'd give it away Jac spoke first. "Just leave it Jonny, Michael takes pleasure in winding people up." She found it slightly hilarious that Michael had totally misdiagnosed her. Thinking she'd got away with it she continued her prognosis on the patient that refused to co-operate. This was until Malick walked by.

"When's it due?" he joked towards Jac not realising that he had indeed hit the nail on the head. She gave him a disgusted look and turned to Jonny who stood there chuckling to himself. She gave him a violent nudge as a warning and that was his signal to stop.

Jonny was surprised that only Serena had picked up on the pregnancy but this was all set to change. Jac once again stopped suddenly placing her hand on her stomach. This time Jonny wasn't going to let her continue.

"Jac what the hell is going on with you. Don't say nothing because I know it's not so you might as well say it." Her face was pale and she wasn't looking well at all. He was tempted to drag her away from the ward altogether but knew that the chances of him being able to father another child after that would be significantly high and decided against it.

"Kick." Was all she could whisper. She felt Michael's eyes on her narrowing slightly as he reevaluated his diagnosis and Jonny standing there not knowing how to react. He got hold of Jac's arm dragging her away from Michael and the patient in attempt to speak to her privately.

"Make sure you go and feed her while you at it." Michael joked but the concern on Jac's face was evident and Jonny had had enough. Firstly he was missing experiences because Jac wanted to keep it all hush hush and secondly she was not fat.

"Jac's not fat," he shouted back. "Jac's not fat, she's pregnant." By this point all Jac's concentration went into not throwing up over Jonny and therefore didn't respond to his outburst. However she was definitely going to sort him out later. As Jonny had shouted the words practically the whole ward had heard and turned to gaze in their direction.

Jac walked off away from the ward heading back to Darwin to escape. Behind her she could hear the footsteps of Jonny following her away from Keller. Back on the ward everyone was amazed by their discovery and the attention turned to who the father of the baby was. Bets were being made. As much as Jac hated it, her whole relationship with Jonny was public knowledge and unless she was 5/6 months gone which they were pretty sure she wasn't then they assumed it wasn't Jonny's. But that didn't explain how he knew about the pregnancy or why he seemed incredibly close. Some even thought Sacha was the father and that was the reason for the breakdown in his marriage with Chrissie. The majority were right in thinking that the father was Jonny.

Climbing up the stairs the pair came across Sacha who was on his way back down from Darwin. Before either of them could get a word in edgeways Sacha embraced them both with hugs of congratulations. It seemed the news had spread rapidly. He informed them of the betting that was going on and found it hilarious that there was a suggestion that he was the father. Of course he reassured Jonny by announcing that he had no doubt that Jonny was the father and indeed placed a bet himself. Jac was not amused by the whole betting situation but was still recovering from the kick that she'd felt and the wave of nausea that had taken over to make a big deal about it all.

To be honest she was slightly relieved the news was out and after having a small conversation with Sacha she continued on walking towards Darwin. She felt a hand snake around her waist and she looked towards Jonny who was smiling at her. She smiled back slightly knowing that she wasn't going to be alone in this and knowing that Serena was right – she needed him. But more importantly she surprised herself because not only was she here admitting she needed him but she wanted him!


End file.
